With Dean Israelite set as its director and the latest script in to execs, Lionsgate has begun the search for who will become the new “Power Rangers.”

Sources tell Variety the studio is about to begin testing young talent, looking at up-and-coming actors and actresses to make up the team. Sources say Daniel Zovatto (“It Follows”), Ross Butler (“Chasing Life”) and Brian “Sene” Marc are among those testing for Zack (aka the Black Ranger), while KJ Apa (“Shortland Street”), Austin Butler (“The Shannara Chronicles”) and Mitchell Hope (“The Descendants”) are testing for Jason (aka the Red Ranger).

Sources also say Naomi Scott (“The Martian”) and newcomer Stephanie Scott are up for the role of Kimberley (aka the Pink Ranger). Insiders say the studio is looking for fresh faces to fill out the team and will probably look for a big name to play the antagonist for the films, though no offers have been made for that part.

The story reimagines the origins of the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” a group of high school kids who find themselves infused with extraterrestrial powers and unite to save the world, with the aid of giant mechanical vehicles known as Zords.

The 1993 Fox Kids TV series became a pop culture phenomenon and inspired a theatrical film, “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie,” in 1995. The original iteration of the series ran until 1996, when the franchise was renamed simply “Power Rangers,” with different subtitles every season.

In later seasons, the title teens were replaced with new characters and vehicles every year. A second theatrical pic, “Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie,” was released in 1997 and was presented as a link between “Power Rangers” series “Zeo” and “Turbo.” The show was originally adapted from the long-running Japanese “Super Sentai” series, recycling footage from the Japanese version to cut down on production costs.

The pic is expected to go up against Guy Ritchie’s retelling of the “King Arthur” story, which also bows on Jan. 13, 2017.

The upcoming big-screen installment of Power Rangers has been cranking out news lately, with four of the five title heroes already cast. Director Dean Israelite‘s film currently stars Naomi Scott as the Pink Ranger, Dacre Montgomery as the Red Ranger, Ludi Lin as the Black Ranger, and RJ Cyler as the Blue Ranger. Other than the current absence of the Yellow Ranger from the cast, you may have noticed two things: the actors who have signed on are all up-and-comers, and their character names haven’t been shared.

With that in mind, I’m happy to bring you a host of exclusive details on the Power Rangers movie, which will now be titled Saban’s Power Rangers. Yes, the retitle comes as series co-creator and business magnate Haim Saban looks to attach his name to the picture when it debuts on January 13, 2017. Saban and his partner Shuki Levy have long been critical parts to the success of the Power Rangers franchise, and as we’ve learned, Saban appears to be just as involved as ever.

In fact, the second bit of our exclusive scoop involves Saban’s work on the script, which is currently being tweaked just as the cast is starting to come together. Israelite is also working on the script along with Saban, but it’s not clear at this time if screenwriters Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz are still involved in the process. We’re also not sure if Levy has any hand in the changes, or if he’ll simply retain a story credit since he was a co-creator of the original series. What we do know, however, is that the character names have changed.

We had previously reported that the cast of the new Power Rangers movie would have the same names as the original television series. This appears to be just one of the changes being made to the script as we now have a new list of character names for the title heroes. They are as follows:

Obviously, these can change as well, but they seem to make sense with the current cast for the most part. A couple of interesting things here: First is that these names are not the same as the original cast of characters, which suggests that it will be an all-new team and not a reboot in any sense. The second is that each of the characters appears to be matched up with the Zords (ie animal-themed war machines) from the original series. So while the names may have been changed, it looks like the classic Zords will be dusted off for a new batch of heroes to take the reins.

We’re hearing that the original costumes will also make an appearance in the film, but we’re not quite sure when or where. It might be in the big opening scene in which a massive battle between the forces of good and evil is taking place. Or it might be in some sort of flashback in which the old heroes hand off the Morphin’ powers to the new. (How cool would it be to see the original cast come back in cameos to pass the baton?) That would certainly fit into the plot notes we’ve heard about so far.

A final exclusive detail we have for you today is the budget of the film, one which is reported to be in the $35 million range. If that sounds low to you, consider that the cast is composed of relative unknowns who don’t command the same salaries as well-established actors. Also keep in mind that the 2014 hit The Maze Runner had a similar budget, a large cast of young actors, and plenty of jaw-dropping effects; that film went on to net over $340 million worldwide.

While we’re certainly confident in the news provided above, remember that things are still being tweaked on the Power Rangers movie, so some details here or there might change between now and early 2017. All signs point to Saban and Lionsgate making a big Power Rangers push in the years to come, so I fully expect to hear more about this project and others sooner than later.

Just did some quick Netflix skimming/research to make some sense of how this may be.The red ranger name screams cameo. Possibly son of Tommy Oliver? With his experience in Dino Thunder, maybe something happened in the world where Tommy has to go back to get the relics of the original power coins and resurrect the dinosaur power inside of them and he brings his son along to lead the team.Green Ranger's powers just ran out, but his coin is still intact and Dragonzord still works, just has no green ranger to power it. (this is ignoring the Super Mega Force finale which had no reasoning for his powers returning).After rewatching Ninja Quest Part 1, the Thunder Zords were completely totaled. There is obviously scrap metal from them somewhere, what happened to them was never revealed. I am Zordon probably had the remains retrieved and they are in one of the many variants of the command center/power chamber storage rooms. If the world was not in trouble and the Rangers had more time that the Ninja Quest was not as important, could the Command Center's power been restored enough over time? Thu Thunder Zords being destroyed was shown very obviously, but how much are the power coins tied into them? They demorphed, but the loss of the dino powers were not clearly explained as a 100% link.Then what happened to the Dinozords? When Zedd came, they needed stronger Zords to fight, therefore never using the Dinozords again. The summoning sequence looks like the dinos morphed into thunder, but they were never explained as much either, whether they were the same zords or two separate systems.If separate, all 6 zords from the dino family are still intact and fully powered, just need the power coins relinked and repowered to them. Ninjor stated that their Ninja powers were new stronger coins and zords, implying that their dino and ninja power coins were two separate coins.Now where are the original power coins? They may be with the relics of the Command Center or they may be with the last coin bearers. It was implied by Ninjor that the Ninja Power Coins were new coins, but not confirmed as separate for sure. The Zeo Rangers used a new power source that was no longer a coin, so that stopped there as no longer being passed on. During the In Space episode "Always A Chance," Adam returned and he still had the Mastadon Power Coin with him, indicating that the Rangers may still possess their coins.Jason passed his dino coin to Rocky and he went on to receive the Red Ninja coin and was the only one to possess that coin, therefore Rocky should have the Tyransourous and Red Ninja coins.Zack passed his dino coin to Adam and he went on to receive the Black Ninja coin and was also the oinly one to possess that coin. Adam was shown In Space as having the Mastadon coin still and even morphed with it, although he was obviously struggling to maintain his power and was very weak from the start. Adam has the Mastadon Power Coin (morphed with the original coin "Mastadon" morph sequence rather than the "Black Ranger Power" morphing sequence used with the ninja powers) and may also poses the Black Ninja Coin.Billy was the only ranger to possess the Triceratops and Blue Ninja Coins, they were never passed on to another ranger, so those coins may be in a power chamber area or on Aquatar.Tommy received the Dragonzord Power Coin, passed it on to Jason when his powers were drained and was passed back to Tommy and repowered when they needed him back. Tommy was the last to possess the Dragonzord Power Coin. The Tigerzord Power Coin was created for Tommy and he was the only one to possess this coin, as well as the White Ninja Power Coin.Kimberly received the Pterodactyl Power Coin and was the only one to receive it. She went on to receive the Pink Ninja Power Coin. This is where it may get tricky whether the dino and ninja coins were physically the same coin. If they were the same, Kimberly still possesses the Pterodactyl Power Coin. She passed her Ninja Power Coin to Katherine, so if they were the same coin, Katherine possesses the pink coin, if they were different, then she only has the Pink Ninja Power Coin.The Yellow Power Coin may be the most complicated coin to track. Trini received the Saber-tooth Tiger Power Coin and she passed it to Aiesha. Aisha received the Yellow Ninja Power Coin. Aiesha was changed into a child and went to the past to retrieve a fragment of the Zeo Crystal. She stayed there and Tanya came to the future in her place. Rito tried to get the power coins from the child rangers in the Alien Rangers series, meaning Aiesha at least had possession of the Yellow Ninja Power Coin at that time. Did she take that coin with her to the past, and if so, did she give it to Tanya to take to the future? She was shown passing on the fragment of the Zeo Crystal, but not the Power Coin, so that may be a mystery. If the coins are separate, would the Saber-tooth Tiger Power Coin remain at her parents house? The location of either yellow coin cay be the biggest mystery.I can see the movie plot centering around something happening (possibly the return of evil Zedd) where Tommy must reveal his ranger past to his son. He leads his son on a search to recruit a team of new rangers and to ind the power coins. With his revealed knowledge of the ranger powers and educational experience revealed during Dino Thunder, Tommy restores the Dino Power Coins and gives it to the new team of Rangers, led by his son, Callum, the new Red Ranger.During Super Mega Force, Tommy had Saba still and morphed into the Green Ranger. Although never explained, he may have experimented with restoring those original coins and would now be ready to restore the others (if he did not already during SMF).Tommy may be the new Zordon, mentor of the rangers, and I could also see it getting so bad that he must return to battle as the Green Ranger.Although this is all hypothetical, I just cannot ignore the choosing of the last name of the Red Ranger. May be coincidence, but with the history of the franchise, I seriously doubt it.

Also, are there any rumors as to what will happen after Super Dino Charge?

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers debuted on my 10th birthday back in 1993 and is currently celebrating its 22nd season. While I slow down a little bit more each year, Power Rangers shows no signs of stopping. The franchise has a big-screen installment due out in January of 2017 which will be directed by Dean Israelite and stars Naomi Scott as the Pink Ranger, Dacre Montgomery as the Red Ranger, Ludi Lin as the Black Ranger, and RJ Cyler as the Blue Ranger. As of this writing, the Yellow Ranger has not been cast.

But it’s not just the movie theaters that will play host to the Power Rangers. The small screen has been the bread and butter of the series for 22 years, and we have news about a big change that’s coming in their 24th season. Not only do we know which Japanese Super Sentai series the new installment will be based on, along with its expected title, but we are also hearing that it will be moving exclusively to Netflix.

That’s a pretty big move considering that Power Rangers has been a staple of the television landscape for more than two decades. Then again, it’s not exactly surprising considering that Saturday morning cartoons have gone extinct on broadcast channels, with more content moving to cable, premium, and digital platforms. In the fall of 2013, Saban Brands announced that they had extended their partnership with Nickelodeon and Bandai America through 2016, but it’s looking like the content-streaming giant Netflix will be home to the Power Rangers starting in 2017.

We’re hearing that the 24th season will be based on Japan’s series Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, and will be called Power Rangers Shuriken here in the States. The 39th entry in Toei’s Super Sentai series premiered in February of this year on Japanese TV and has a ninja theme that celebrates traditional festival themes and accents the agile nature of its heroes. I hope you like your Power Rangers seasons on the long side because the Netflix co-production will contain 32 episodes.